ll. His feast is
kept in the Latin Church on December 7th, and he is justly regarded as
one of the most illustrious doctors of the Church.

[Signature of the author.]

[Illustration: Ambrose rebukes Theodosius.]

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO[8]

By HIS EMINENCE JAMES, CARDINAL GIBBONS

(354-430)

[Footnote 8: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]

[Illustration: St. Augustine. [TN]]

Among the few great names which have most signally emblazoned the pages
of history, and whose fame and influence have not been limited to their
own age, country, or people, that of Augustine, saint and bishop, stands
out pre-eminently as worthy of all the encomiums bestowed upon him by
serious students of men and their times. He has been and is regarded as
the greatest and most celebrated of theologians, the father and master
of preachers of the Divine Word, the peer of the rarest and most
enlightened minds, whose soaring is above all time. He has been given a
place with Plato and Bossuet, with Cicero and St. Thomas, in the
universal acclaim. Great in faith, great in thought, great in virtue,
great in genius, he lived in the century of great men, towering above
all. Athanasius was Patriarch of Alexandria and Cyril of Jerusalem;
Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzen, and Basil the Great, formed a
triumvirate of holy, eloquent, and erudite defenders of truth and
justice; Ambrose was by his faith and piety illumining the See of Milan;
the Christian Cicero, Chrysostom, was pouring forth at Constantinople
streams of golden eloquence; Jerome, the hermit of Bethlehem, was giving
his masterly expositions of Scripture. And Augustine arose in this
galaxy of greatness and genius to shed glory on the land and church of
Africa, which had seen its Tertullian and been adorned by its Cyprian.
Contact with such men were an honor; drinking at their feet deep and
wholesome draughts of purest wisdom were glory: but to have the notes of
one's song arise above theirs as did Augustine's, were solid genius and
lasting fame.

St. Augustine was born on November 13, A.D. 354, at the little town of
Tagasta, in ancient Numidia, which is now Algeria. His father was an
unassuming and honorable soul, though of humble and modest origin. His
mother was the sainted Monica, who is so justly venerated on Christian
altars. The early education of Augustine was received in his native
village, with slender means and amidst meagre advantages. As a boy he
manifes